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I rubbed my stomach where Og’s shoulder had bruised me and looked above us. The lights on two security cameras, pointed at Lux’s door, steadily blinked.
“Right, I didn’t think of that,” Og said, following my gaze.
I pulled Og the rest of the way into Lux’s tower, my mind racing.
“What was your plan after you escaped?” Og asked, shutting and locking the door behind us.
“I was going to waltz into the kitchen and get some food.” I scanned Lux’s place for more cameras but didn’t see any obvious ones. Either his dad hadn’t put them in here, or they were well hidden.
Og gaped at me. “That was your plan?”
“Yeah.” My mind raced with our next steps. I hadn’t really seen much technology in the air dragon’s castle. The cameras and Lux’s cybernetic limbs were the exception. Now that I thought about it, other than the oubliette, I’d not seen much magic either. The light bulbs at the EM had been simple wiring. Hadn’t Tyson said fire dragons controlled most of the technology on the island?
“Hey, Og-pog,” I turned to Og, who still looked at me like I’d grown a second head. “Hey, focus. Do air dragons have magic like yours?”
“You were just going to walk back into air dragon hands?” Og asked, ignoring my question.
I sighed and stepped into Og’s personal space. “Yes. I need to free you.” I put my hand on his arm. “You’ve been pulled into my mess, clearly as brown eyes ‘gifted’ you to me.” I released hisarm. “I need you and your people to trust me because as much as I want to free you, I still need your help.” I put my hands in the air. “There’s something wrong with the Ley Lines, which trumps removing your mate mark. But I swear to every god I know, I will destroy this curse, forcing your hand in the process.”
The confusion on Og’s face morphed. He pinned my arms to my sides and pulled me into his chest.
“I don’t know what’s going on,” He squeezed me. “But that apparition called you his obsession. That isn’t a good word.” He released me to kiss the top of my head, only to wince and grab his junk as my other three mate marks shocked him.
I bit my lips shut to keep from sympathizing. As of this moment, at least that part of the curse was a good thing. The less touching, the easier it would be for all of us in the end.
“Look, we can discuss the finer points later.” I put two fingers under his chin, forcing him to look at me. “I still need your help, but not at the expense of your family. Go back. Hopefully, Tyson’s doing the same. There is more than one way to skin a cat.” The quartz eating up my mates’ elemental energy blazed to life in my memory. A bad feeling twisted my gut. Something was fundamentally wrong on this island. “Where’s Lux?”
Ogden flattened his lips into a line as if ready to argue with me before furrowing his bushy eyebrows. “Lux was surrounded by air guards and taken out of the EM. He’s with the air dragons. I’ve not seen him in the last sixteen hours. That’s how long you spent down there, by the way.”
I nodded and turned, marching up to the top floor, where I’d seen the air prince work the electrical panel, which I believed opened and closed the metal blinds and hopefully controlled the cameras on the doors.
Og followed me. “What are you doing?”
“The air king has an oubliette spelled to absorb elemental magic.” I made it to the panel and explored its edges with myfingers. “I didn’t see a single security camera at the EM, but he’s got one on his son’s door? That doesn’t feel right.”
Og's silhouette reflected on the dark screen of the panel. “Lux was hiding as a woman at the air temple.” He said lowly. “His home wasn’t a safe place for him, was it?”
I shot Og’s reflection with a finger gun. “And now he’s back in his father’s clutches.”
Because of me.
Fuck. I messed up.
I found a dent in the edge of the screen and pulled it forward. “You’re a kid, Og.” The words twisted my gut, but he needed to understand how bad we were for each other. “Mistakes have consequences and me being on this island is a huge one.” The touch screen popped off with a snap. “And you’re only part of it is to fuck off, so go do that.”
CHAPTER TWO
TYSON
“…fuck off, so go do that.” Wiggle's last words became clear as I vaulted into a round, brightly lit room filled with comfortable white suede seating and a bar.
“How the feck did you run so fast?” I said to Ogden, holding my chest and wheezing. I’d run down too many wrong corridors before realizing Lux’s tower was the only place Og would have taken Wiggles.
“Tyson?” Ogden turned to me and squared his shoulders. His dark green eyes swirled with emotion. A large rack of very impressive brown horns grew and shrank on his head as his dragon struggled with Jay’s rejection.
I controlled my breathing and grinned. “Feck off, Earth Worm. It sounds like Wiggles made her choice.”
Ogden clenched his fist and leaned forward, but before either of us could move, Wiggles let out a frustrated scream. A whirlwind of air and fire appeared in her palms, and she flung the elemental magics at a wire-filled hole in the wall. A whirring noise increased, followed by a few pops. The lightswent completely dark, leaving us bathed in moonlight from the open windows.
